Thursday, November 14, 2013

A Day In the Life of 10 Meters


Actually two days. November 13 and 14 were sorted together. Also, although the times are UTC, they are sorted by local time (PST).

All hits are JT65 on a dial/window frequency of 28076 kHz.  With its short exchanges and low information rate, JT65 is a good weak signal DX mode.  Perfect for 10 meters when skip allows, since it becomes a good low-power DX band.

Countries were looked up in the book.

Note the directional shift corresponding with time of day.  This is typical for long-range F2 propagation on frequencies this high. It follows the sun. Here in California, the day starts with Europe and Africa. It shifts to the Pacific in the afternoon, before ending with a pipeline to Japan.

South America tends to be in all day long. There are various reasons for this. Daylight is strongest over this path.  Buenos Aires, Uruguay, and tiny parts of Chile and Brazil are especially favored, because they lie on a geomagnetic latitude similar to SoCal. This facilitates transequatorial spread-F propagation. In these band conditions, the area is a guaranteed hit well into low VHF.

Here's the log. "dB" are relative to the noise over a 2 kHz audio passband, and the figure is nearly always negative.

UTC    dB     Exchange                                 Country

1728    -23    K AB0V EA1YV -18                 Spain

1731    -4      B CQ VA7JH CO70                  BC, Canada

1738    -26    K CQ EA8/RW3DO                  Spain

1746    -24    K CQ LU4XPE FD55                Argentina

1748    -4      B W9MO FG5FU FK96            French Guadeloupe Island

1756    -19    K CQ CX8AF GF15                  Uruguay

1806    -6      B KG6Q YV4GJN FK50           Venezuela

1814    -24    K WA0AM ZS1AGF RRR        South Africa

1913    -19    B CQ LU1WBM FE77              Argentina

2058    -13    B CQ LU8EX GF05                  Argentina

2132    -10    B CQ PY3AGI GG30                Brazil

2134    -18    K CQ CA3SOC FF46                Chile

2152    -16    B CQ JA3GAK PM74               Japan

2152    -14    B CQ CE6MBK FF30               Chile

2212    -11    B CQ LU2BN GF05                  Argentina

2217    -13    B VA3DAZ JA3GAK 73           Japan

2217    -27    K NY7U JA3CG PM95             Japan

2217    -21    K CQ JA1LZB PM95                Japan

2218    -20    K JA2HMD PY2HJ GG66        Brazil

2222    -25    K NQ6Y JA3BLK R-11            Japan

2223    -21    B CQ JA2HMD PM95              Japan

2228    -12    B CQ LU2DO GF05                  Argentina

2231    -17    K CX8AF JA1IZ PM95             Japan

2232    -20    K CQ JG1PDG PM96                Japan

2234    -14    B CQ LU8EX GF05                  Argentina

2239    -20    K K8QZ LU6XQB R-20            Argentina

2240    -23    K KA4IUO JA3FQO 73            Japan

2240    -20    B CQ JH4BTI PM54                 Japan

2247    -21    K AE7CD JG6CDH PM43        Japan

2249    -22    K CX8AF VA3DAZ EN82        ONT, Canada

2250    -24    K CQ PY2TWI GG66                Brazil

2254    -15    B CQ CE6MBK FF30               Chile

2255    -19    B PY2TWI JA1VGV QM06      Japan

2256    -24    K CQ VK6IR OF77                   Australia

2257    -26    K CQ BD7OXR OL62               China

2258    -20    B NU6O JH1KYA                     Japan

2259    -19    B CQ JA1KXQ PM95               Japan

2309    -23    K N4EMP JQ2SGN PM94        Japan

2310    -16    K AB4EG JA1PVX PM95        Japan

2314    -23    K WA4MIT JH3OWW             Japan

2323    -19    B CQ JA6VZ QM06                  Japan

2325    -22    K CQ JG1ERW PM95               Japan

2325    -19    B NK0G JA3FQO PM74           Japan

2325    -21    K K5AGC JA1NUX PM95       Japan

2327    -16    B K0JV JA2HMD PM95           Japan

2330    -20    K CQ JG1PDG PM96                Japan

2331    -23    K VE7LGX JA2HMD               Japan

2332    -16    B CQ LU4ECN GF12                Argentina

2333    -21    K JH3OWW LU8VB FF60       Argentina

2333    -24    K K5AGC JH1QKG                  Japan

2339    -14    B LU4ECN JO3TAP PM74       Japan

2340    -21    K LU8VB JA6QV                     Japan

2341    -13    B LU4ECN JA1VGV QM06     Japan

2344    -19    K AF6JO JR3QFB PM74          Japan

2346    -24    K CQ JG1PDG PM96                Japan

2347    -17    B CQ JA1PVX PM95                Japan

2352    -24    K CQ CX8AF GF15                  Uruguay

2353    -21    B JA6VZ LU8AFR GF05          Argentina

2355    -20    K W7ZWW JA1MOD 73          Japan

2355    -25    K CQ JA6ADA PM52               Japan

2356    -12    B CQ JA6QV PM53                  Japan

2357    -16    B K5AGC JG6CDH PM43        Japan

2359    -19    K CQ LU2BN GF05                  Argentina

0000    -7      B VK4BDJ JH3OWW PM74    Japan

0000    -12    B 25W VRT58 73                      ?

0000    -22    K LU2BN JA1NUX PM95        Japan

0003    -25    K CQ JA1MOD PM96              Japan

0004    -18    K CQ CX5BL GF15                  Uruguay

0004    -20    B CQ JA7DQF QM07               Japan

0005    -9      B NS6E JF8EPR QN03             Japan

0008    -15    B JA2DMT TU 73                     Japan

0012    -24    K W6GPM JA1MOD 73           Japan